Politically charged: do you know where your batteries come from?

People are excited about batteries, from electric cars to Tesla’s 129 megawatt-hour energy storage project in South Australia. But one important issue is often overlooked: the raw materials needed to build this technology – where they come from and their environmental cost. Ben McLellan of Kyoto University takes a closer look at what goes into the lithium-ion battery. Article courtesy The Conversation.

New types of batteries such as vanadium “flow batteries” still lag in comparison with the performance of lithium-ion ones (as used by Tesla). Other technologies face significant hurdles before they can be commercially available.

This means that, for now, demand for lithium-ion batteries for use in portable electronics, hybrid vehicles and electric tools will only grow. Lithium demand for batteries is forecast to increase dramatically, driving more than a doubling in total lithium demand by 2025.

This demand has led to enthusiastic investment, first in lithium and more recently in the electrode materials required for these batteries, including graphite, nickel and cobalt.

We need to think carefully about the security of the sources of lithium-ion battery materials, as well as the environmental impact of their extraction.

Where can we find lithium?

Getting lithium into a battery is not simply a matter of digging it up.

The current major producers of lithium are Australia, Chile, Argentina and China, with Australia and Chile accounting for about 75% of the total.

If battery power replaced oil, some analysts predict that South America would become the “new Middle East”

These four countries also have the largest reserves of lithium. Chile, in particular, is thought to have more than 50% of known economic reserves (the portion of mineral resources expected to be minable at a profit).

However, Argentina and Bolivia have so far identified more than 9 million tonnes each in lithium resources (a classification for minerals with more uncertainty about if and at what cost they can be extracted).

Because of the concentration of reserves in South America, the regions of highest lithium potential are often referred to as the “lithium triangle”. If battery power replaced oil, some analysts predict that South America would become the “new Middle East”.

The environmental impact of lithium mining

Lithium mining has different ecological impacts depending on how it’s extracted.

Australia, for example, mostly produces lithium from hard rock ores. Other countries, including those in South America, more often produce it from brines.

To produce lithium from ore, the ore is typically crushed. Then chemicals and high temperatures are used to separate the lithium from the rest of the rock.

Producing lithium this way requires land use changes – clearing land, digging mines and storing waste rock. Significant energy and chemical use are also needed to obtain to the final product.

Manufacturers such as electric vehicle makers should be concerned that the supply of one of the key mineral components, or the processing and refining infrastructure, could become too centralised in a single country

For brines, a naturally occurring concentrated solution of lithium (mixed with other salts containing sodium, magnesium and potassium when it is found naturally) is pumped out of the ground. It is put in large ponds to evaporate excess water and separate the other salts for many months. The remaining lithium compound is then purified and processed.

For brines, the main environmental concern, especially in Chile, is that the extraction can impact water supply in desert areas. It also uses some chemicals for purification.

Many analysts consider that lithium from brines is preferable environmentally because the impacts are lower using present methods.

Of course, increasing demand might change this and increase the environmental cost: the brines could be evaporated more quickly using heat (possibly from fossil fuels or from concentrated solar energy). The size of the pond could also be expanded.

Graphite can also be synthetically derived, but only natural graphite is considered here, as it is currently easier to produce.

Cobalt

Some materials needed for batteries are not extracted and refined in the same place. This is particularly true for cobalt: in 2015, Democratic Republic of Congo produced most of the mined cobalt, but China was the largest producer of the refined metal.

After these two major players, Canada and Australia play moderately important roles in both mining and refining. Australia is second on the list of reserves of cobalt, with around 14% of global reserves.

Environmentally, the extraction of cobalt and nickel is driven by the type and grade of ores, and their location.

Typically, ores that are easier to mine and extract are already being exploited, leaving deeper, more complex deposits for the future.

For this reason, unlike lithium, the ecological impact of these minerals is likely to increase. Deeper mines and lower grades lead to more waste rock, greater energy use tied to greenhouse gas emissions, and more chemicals used per tonne.

The supply chain risks

Manufacturers such as electric vehicle makers should be concerned that the supply of one of the key mineral components, or the processing and refining infrastructure, could become too centralised in a single country.

Without diverse source options, the possibility of supply restriction becomes more likely.

Environmentally, the lithium-ion battery’s future is also worrying. The production of electrode materials may become more environmentally damaging

Currently, graphite is quite centralised because fewer countries produce it, but reserves are more diversified. With almost half of the world’s cobalt ore reserves concentrated in Democratic Republic of Congo for the foreseeable future, and with a large proportion of refining capacity located in China, the supply chain could be more vulnerable.

After all, it’s possible governments might again restrict supply.

In this scenario, Democratic Republic of Congo is not high on the list of preferred suppliers. It rates poorly on most World Bank indicators thanks to its tenuous political situation, while China rates better. But as China has shown in the case of rare earth elements, there is still uncertainty about its reliability as a supplier.

Where does that leave the lithium battery?

The supply of major materials for lithium batteries is not under threat any time soon, but demand is likely to open up new areas for extraction, bringing new risks.

The political situations of countries with large reserve shares and large shares in the processing of these metals can quickly become uncertain. Will countries like Bolivia allow unrestricted export of lithium? Will Democratic Republic of Congo or China restrict cobalt supply?

Environmentally, the lithium-ion battery’s future is also worrying. The production of electrode materials may become more environmentally damaging. On the other hand, the impact of the lithium supply itself is likely to improve.

Ultimately, recycling lithium should play a part in mitigating political, environmental and economic risks in the future, but high rates of lithium battery recycling are yet to be seen.

Editor’s Note

Ben McLellan is Honorary Fellow at The University of Queensland`s Sustainable Minerals Institute as well as Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Energy Science at Kyoto University. His areas of interest mainly fall within the fields of the energy-minerals nexus and assessment and design for sustainability.

This article was first published on The Conversation and is republished here under the Creative Commons licence of the Conversation and with permission from the author.

About Ben McLellan

Comments

The author confuses “reserves” with “occurrence”. The places where one finds reserves are the places where lithium is now being extracted. That does not tell us where we can find large amounts of lithium if one of the current producing countries operations were disrupted.

If you look at the first (red) graph you’ll see that neither Bolivia or the US is present. Bolivia has massive amounts of lithium salts in dry lakebeds. Bolivia has 5.3 million tons of accessible lithium which equals about half of the total known amounts in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Portugal and Zimbabwe combined.

In the US –

“Western Lithium claims the Humboldt County site’s deposits represent the fifth-largest lithium resource in the world. The Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development says the state’s overall lithium portfolio is even bigger.

“Nevada is lithium rich — second only to the size of deposits found in Chile,” said Steve Hill, executive director of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development.”

Musk has stated that he sees used batteries as sources of highly concentrated raw material for new batteries. Tesla’s “problem” is that their batteries are lasting a long time and not presenting themselves for recycling.

Model Ss have now accumulated over 100,000 miles with capacities generally staying above 90%. Tesla expects most owners to reach 200,000 miles with more than 80% capacity remaining. And if that happens then those batteries are likely to spend many more years working as grid storage.